A Perfect Match: James Blake on His Recent Engagement and Serving for a Cure

One of America’s most desirable bachelors isn’t anymore. Tennis great James Blake and publicist Emily Snider are now officially engaged. Although place and date are yet to be engraved on invitations, they are looking at next November to marry.

I was just on the phone with Blake talking about his plans for the seventh annual “Serving for a Cure” event at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Monday November 28th, when he confirmed this romantic news, the word “fiancée” like a melody to describe Emily. Blake and Snider are spending Thanksgiving with her family in Milwaukee. Then, to Manhattan for “Serving for a Cure,” which Empire BlueCross BlueShield is helping to underwrite.

If you haven’t attended in the past, this is one of the more fun events of the fall season: athletes, charity, and a high percentage of the beautiful people from Fairfield County in Connecticut (where Blake grew up). The cause couldn’t be more heartfelt. Money raised benefits the Thomas Blake, Sr., Memorial Research Fund at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. This was established by the James Blake Foundation in memory of James’s father, who died in 2004 of gastric cancer. Since 2005, the foundation has raised more than $2 million. One of the main goals is “early detection…If my father had been diagnosed sooner he might have had an entirely different result and remission.”

Blake’s Fairfield High School friend the actor Justin Long (Dodgeball, He’s Just Not That In To You, Live Free or Die Hard) will emcee the event on the 28th, and Brett Dennen, a Rolling Stone “Artist to Watch,” will perform. In addition, there will be a fast-serve contest and an opportunity to play against James and four-time Grand Slam champion Jim Courier in a ping-pong challenge.

The fundraiser has evolved considerably since its first year, when it was held in Virginia. John Mayer, another schoolmate from Fairfield High School, performed and Andy Roddick, one of Blake’s tennis buddies, supported the event. Blake has evolved, too, and now is a champion host. Blake has decided that this year there should be a seated dinner instead of the buffets of years past—he soon will be poring over a seating chart for about 200 guests. The menu begins with hors d’oeuvres including a caviar beggar’s purse—that’s paper-thin crepes, not Givenchy’s latest—and barbequed short ribs, and for the main course, roasted organic chicken or a vegetarian alternative.

Does Blake have any entertaining secrets for the holidays? Any “do’s or don’ts,” any rules—no carnations sort of things—to impart?

Blake laughed. “No, no strict rules,” he said. “But you know my whole life has been going to events,” when he wasn’t training or playing. “I just thought you walk the red carpet and that’s it. How hard could it be to plan an event? Well, now I know and I have a great appreciation for event planners. We’ve all been to parties with food like rubber chicken and people wandering around not knowing what they are doing there. It takes a lot of time and care to make sure everything goes smoothly and feels personal.”